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Monday, August 24, 2015
UNIVERSITY
Campus carry working group announced By Matthew Adams @MatthewAdams60
University President Gregory Fenves announced the formation of a committee to review campus carry in a University-wide email Thursday. On May 30, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 11 to allow licensed permit holders to carry
concealed handguns on public university grounds starting Aug. 1, 2016. In his email, Fenves said the law gives campuses certain discretion for establishing campus carry regulations and hopes to make the campus as safe as possible. “The safety of our community is of the utmost importance,” Fenves said in the email. “I want to make clear
my goal is to promote safety and security for all members of the campus and in a way that is fully compliant with the law.” Fenves said the committee, referred to as a working group, will submit recommended policies by late November for him to consider. The group will be supported by two subcommittees — one focused on safety and
training, and the other on communication and training — staffed by the UT Police Department, Campus Safety and Security and the Office of
Inside
Read more inside on Opinion, page 4.
Steven Goode
Committee Chair
SUMMER SNAPSHOTS
page 19
Although Blue Bell will return to certain stores around Texas and the U.S. on Aug. 31, the ice cream will not be coming back to the 40 Acres anytime soon, according to Rene Rodriguez, director of food service for the Division of Housing and Food Service. After Blue Bell issued a recall of its products nationwide in April, followingthe discoery of a strain of listeria in its facilities. Rodriguez said he feared DHFS would not be compensated for all the ice cream they took off their shelves. Rodriguez later said DHFS would not do business with the company when their products would return for that reason. Although DHFS was eventually compensated for all of the removed ice cream, because of an expansion in Blue Bell’s recall, Rodriguez said the likelihood of DHFS selling Blue Bell again is still low because there have not been any scheduled sit-downs with the company to talk about selling the ice cream again. Even if a meeting is scheduled, Rodriguez said DHFS will do what is best from a business perspective. “I know that they’re reintroducing Blue Bell into this area, but as of now they haven’t requested a meeting with us to see what the options are,” Rodriguez said. “I’m just assuming that they’re going to focus on grocery stores first, the large vendors, the people who sell millions of dollars’ worth of their ice cream, but at this
BLUE BELL page 2 Regent Wallace Hall expresses his concerns regarding the new admissions policy during a UT System Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
UNIVERSITY
Legal battle surrounding race, admissions enters final arena A long-winded legal battle over race-conscious admissions between the University and a rejected applicant may soon be decided, legal experts say, providing clarity about the role of affirmative action in higher education. The Supreme Court did not rule on affirmative action in higher education in 2013 when it first reviewed plaintiff Abigail Fisher’s case, sending it back to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. In June, the nation’s highest court announced it would rehear the case and potentially hand down a final decision on the subject. “There was no reason to punt the last [time] it was up, so it seems somewhat ludicrous that they’re going to do it again,” UT law professor Lino Graglia
said. “They can say it’s unconstitutional. Let that be clear. Or they can say it’s constitutional. Let that be clear. They’ve done neither so far.” Fisher, who is white and did not qualify for automatic admission under the Top Ten Percent Rule, was not accepted to the University in 2008. She then sued UT for allegedly denying her application because of her race, leading to a lengthy legal battle that has crisscrossed the court system. The Western District Court of Texas and the 5th Circuit of Appeals both sided against Fisher’s case, which positioned it for argument before the Supreme Court in 2013. But the Supreme Court resolved to return the case to the 5th Circuit court, claiming the appeals court had failed to apply “strict scrutiny” to the University’s race-conscious
admissions policy. In July 2014, after further review, the appeals court again ruled UT’s admissions policies constitutional. Following the 5th Circuit’s latest decision, Fisher and her lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court to rehear the case, writing that it has “only gained importance.” In June, the Court announced it would accept the case again. UT President Gregory Fenves released a statement in June, saying “[UT’s] admissions policy is narrowly tailored, constitutional and has been upheld by the courts multiple times.” The University has seen several high-profile admissions cases in its history, and the activity over the last 20 years has made large amounts of data available that reflect several sides of the admissions spectrum: considering race, not considering
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Attorney launches fundraiser to keep Davis statue PAGE 3
Heman Sweatt deserves statue on Main Mall. PAGE 4
Smart, Longhorns ready to open new season. PAGE 9
Get advice on freshman year from UT students. PAGE 13
Perry-Castañeda Library to stay open 24/5 in fall PAGE 6
Student should join in campus carry discussion. PAGE 4
Volleyball opens new practice facility. PAGE 9
Royal Headache releases emotional new album. PAGE 13
Check out our ice cream taste test video to find the best Blue Bell alternatives.
FISHER page 8
Blue Bell unlikely to return to campus @nashwabawab
People ride the Fireball at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California, on July 25.
@GrahamDickie @juliakbrou
CAMPUS
By Nashwa Bawab
WORKING page 2
Mike McGraw | Daily Texan Staff
By Graham Dickie & Julia Brouillette
bit.ly/dtvid
Thalia Juarez Daily Texan Staff
New UT policy addresses rare admissions concerns By Matthew Adams @MatthewAdams60
The UT System Board of Regents passed a new UT admissions policy with a 7–1 vote at a meeting Thursday. The policy addresses how letters of recommendation are handled and clarifies how to handle “rare admission decisions” beyond the normal process. The admissions policy change comes a few months after
the February release of the Kroll Report, which found former University President William Powers Jr. admitted several unqualified students into the University. The policy specifically outlines how letters of recommendation for University admissions are to be handled, and it also requires that no unqualified applicant be admitted. In a “rare admission decision,” in which students are accepted outside of usual protocol, the
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rationale of the admission has to be presented to UT System Chancellor William McRaven. David Daniel, deputy chancellor for the Board of Regents, said the policy is meant to eliminate a relationship status to determine admissions into UT. Daniels said he, McRaven and Steven Leslie, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, reached the policy decisions by reviewing
ADMISSIONS page 8 COMICS
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